CN211319188U - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch panel comprises a substrate, a peripheral lead, a touch sensing electrode and a first cover. The peripheral lead is arranged on the substrate and is provided with a side wall and an upper surface. The first covering covers the upper surface of the peripheral lead, the touch sensing electrode comprises a plurality of modified metal nanowires, the modified metal nanowires are provided with first surfaces in direct contact at the intersection points, and the modified metal nanowires are provided with covering structures on second surfaces of non-intersection points.

Description

Touch panel

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a touch panel.

Background

In recent years, transparent conductors have been used in many display or touch related devices to allow light to pass through and provide appropriate electrical conductivity. Generally, the transparent conductor may be various metal oxides, such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), Indium Zinc Oxide (IZO), Cadmium Tin Oxide (CTO), or Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide (AZO). However, these metal oxide thin films do not satisfy the flexibility requirements of display devices. Therefore, many flexible transparent conductors, for example, transparent conductors made of materials such as nanowires have been developed.

However, the nanowire process technology still has many problems to be solved, for example, when the nanowire is used to manufacture a touch electrode, an alignment error area needs to be reserved when the nanowire and the lead of the peripheral area are aligned, the size of the lead of the peripheral area cannot be reduced due to the alignment error area, and further the width of the peripheral area is large, especially, by using a Roll-to-Roll (Roll-to-Roll) process, the size of the alignment error area is further enlarged (for example, 150um) due to the deformation of the substrate, so that the minimum width of the peripheral area only reaches 2.5mm, and thus the narrow frame requirement of the display cannot be met. For another example, silver nanowires have high conductivity, but the high reflectivity of silver materials can have optical effects; there have been studies to plate the surface of silver nanowires with low reflective materials to achieve higher optical properties. However, plating a low reflectivity material on the surface of the silver nanowires results in higher electrical resistance at the silver wire lap, i.e., while plating a low reflectivity material improves optical properties, electrical advantages are lost.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the utility model is to provide a touch panel.

In some embodiments of the touch panel of the present invention, a coating structure is formed on a specific surface (non-contact surface) of the metal nanowire to improve the optical characteristics, and the electrical characteristics of the electrode formed by the metal nanowire are maintained.

The utility model discloses an among the partial implementation, receive the cover and the mark of the first cover that is formed by metal nano wire at least through the peripheral lead wire of design and receive the cover of the first cover that is formed by metal nano wire at least to reach the effect that does not need to reserve the counterpoint error zone when counterpointing, with the less peripheral lead wire of formation width, and then satisfy the demand of narrow frame. In addition, the present invention provides a new touch sensor winding structure in some embodiments, thereby resulting in a touch panel structure different from the past.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a touch panel, which comprises:

a substrate, wherein the substrate has a display area and a peripheral area;

a plurality of peripheral leads disposed on the peripheral region of the substrate;

a plurality of first covers covering the upper surfaces of the peripheral leads; and

the touch sensing electrode is arranged in the display area of the substrate and is electrically connected with the peripheral leads, wherein the touch sensing electrode comprises a plurality of modified metal nanowires, the modified metal nanowires are provided with first surfaces which are in direct contact at cross points, and the modified metal nanowires are provided with coating structures on second surfaces which are not the cross points.

In the touch panel, the first covers include the modified metal nanowires.

In the touch panel, the first covers include a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires.

The touch panel further includes: and the modified metal nanowires are exposed out of the film layer.

In the touch panel, the touch sensing electrode further includes a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires disposed in the film layer.

In the touch panel, the coating structure is a layer structure, an island-shaped protrusion structure, a dot-shaped protrusion structure or a combination thereof made of a conductive material.

In the touch panel, the conductive material is silver, gold, copper, platinum, iridium, rhodium, palladium or osmium.

In the touch panel, the conductive material is graphene, carbon nanotubes, conductive polymer or conductive oxide.

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a touch panel according to some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 1A is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 1.

Fig. 1B is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of fig. 1.

Fig. 2A to 2D are schematic diagrams illustrating a method for manufacturing a touch panel according to some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 3A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a variation of line a-a of fig. 1.

FIG. 3B is a schematic cross-sectional view of a variation of line B-B of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4A is a schematic cross-sectional view of another alternative embodiment taken along line A-A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4B is a schematic cross-sectional view of another variation on line B-B of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5A is a schematic cross-sectional view of another alternative embodiment taken along line A-A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5B is a schematic cross-sectional view of another variation on line B-B of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6A is a schematic cross-sectional view of another alternative embodiment taken along line A-A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6B is a schematic cross-sectional view of another variation on line B-B of FIG. 1.

Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic top view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8A is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 8.

Fig. 9 is a schematic top view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a schematic view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Description of reference numerals:

100: touch panel

110: substrate

120: peripheral lead wire

122: side wall

124: upper surface of

140: marking

142: side wall

144: upper surface of

130: film layer

136: non-conductive region

140: metal nanowire

160: shielded conductor

170: flexible circuit board

VA: display area

PA: peripheral zone

BA: bonding region

TE 1: first touch electrode

TE 2: a second touch electrode layer

TE, TE1, TE 2: touch electrode

C1: first cover

C1L: side surface

C2: second cover

C2L: side surface

C3: third cover

D1: a first direction

D2: second direction

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous implementation details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that these implementation details should not be used to limit the invention. That is, in some embodiments of the invention, details of these implementations are not necessary. In addition, some conventional structures and components are shown in simplified schematic form in the drawings.

As used herein, "about" or "approximately" generally means that the numerical value has an error or range within twenty percent, preferably within ten percent, and more preferably within five percent. Unless expressly stated otherwise, all numerical values mentioned are approximate, i.e., have an error or range as indicated by the term "about", "approximately" or "approximately".

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a touch panel comprises: a substrate, wherein the substrate has a display area and a peripheral area; a plurality of peripheral leads disposed on the substrate; a plurality of first covers covering the upper surfaces of the peripheral leads; and a touch sensing electrode disposed in the display region of the substrate and electrically connected to the peripheral leads, wherein the touch sensing electrode comprises a plurality of modified metal nanowires, the modified metal nanowires have first surfaces directly contacting at intersections, and the modified metal nanowires have a coating structure on a second surface not at the intersections.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the first covering includes modified metal nanowires.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the first cover includes a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the metal nanowire is exposed to the film layer.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the touch sensing electrode further includes a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires disposed in the film layer.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the second cover has a side surface, and the side surface and the marked side wall are a common etching surface.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the coating structure is a layer structure, an island-shaped protrusion structure, a dot-shaped protrusion structure or a combination thereof made of a conductive material.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the conductive material is silver, gold, copper, platinum, iridium, rhodium, palladium, or osmium.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the conductive material is Graphene (Graphene), carbon nanotubes, conductive polymer or conductive oxide.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a touch panel includes: providing a substrate, wherein the substrate is provided with a display area and a peripheral area; arranging a metal layer on the peripheral area; arranging a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires in the display area and the peripheral area, wherein the unmodified metal nanowires have first surfaces in direct contact at intersection points, and the unmodified metal nanowires have second surfaces at non-intersection points; performing a modification step to form a metal nanowire layer consisting of a plurality of modified metal nanowires, wherein the modified metal nanowires have a coating structure on the second surface; and performing a patterning step comprising: and patterning the metal nanowire layer positioned in the display area to form a touch sensing electrode, wherein the touch sensing electrode comprises the modified metal nanowires.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the patterning step further comprises: and patterning the metal layer and the metal nanowire layer in the peripheral area at one time, wherein the patterned metal layer forms a plurality of peripheral leads, the patterned metal nanowire layer forms a plurality of first covers, and the first covers are arranged on the peripheral leads.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the first covering includes modified metal nanowires.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the plurality of unmodified metal nanowires are disposed in the display area and the peripheral area, and further include: arranging a film layer on the unmodified metal nanowires, wherein an exposed part of the unmodified metal nanowires is exposed out of the film layer, and the exposed part forms the modified metal nanowires through the modification step; an unexposed portion of the unmodified metal nanowires is embedded in the film layer, and the unexposed portion is not affected by the modifying step.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the modifying step includes coating, chemical plating, electroplating or sputtering to form the coating structure; the coating structure is a layered structure, an island-shaped protrusion structure, a dot-shaped protrusion structure or a combination thereof made of conductive materials.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a coating structure is formed on the side wall of the peripheral lead and the side wall of the mark.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a touch panel includes: providing a substrate, wherein the substrate is provided with a display area and a peripheral area; arranging a metal layer on the peripheral area; arranging a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires in the display area and the peripheral area, wherein the unmodified metal nanowires have first surfaces in direct contact at intersection points, and the unmodified metal nanowires have second surfaces at non-intersection points; carrying out a patterning step; and performing a modification step to form a metal nanowire layer consisting of a plurality of modified metal nanowires, wherein the modified metal nanowires have a coating structure on the second surface. The patterning step includes: and patterning the metal nanowire layer positioned in the display area to form a touch sensing electrode, wherein the touch sensing electrode comprises the modified metal nanowires.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the marks include alignment marks disposed in the peripheral area of each of the touch panels, or cutting alignment marks disposed between adjacent touch panels, or alignment marks, direction marks, size marks or numbers/characters marks disposed on the substrate.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the width of the peripheral lead is 5um-20um, and the distance between the adjacent peripheral leads is 5um-20 um.

Further, the air conditioner is provided with a fan,

fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a touch panel 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention, and fig. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views of a line a-a and a line B-B of fig. 1, respectively. The touch panel 100 includes a substrate 110, a peripheral lead 120, a first cover C1 and touch sensing electrodes TE, the number of the peripheral lead 120, the first cover C1 and the touch sensing electrodes TE may be one or more, and the numbers drawn in the following embodiments and the drawings are only for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the present invention; the touch sensing electrode TE includes a plurality of modified metal nanowires 190, the modified metal nanowires 190 have first surfaces 191 directly contacting at the intersection points, and the modified metal nanowires 190 have a coating structure 180 on second surfaces 192 not at the intersection points (refer to fig. 2B first). Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a touch panel 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention. Referring to fig. 1 to 1B, the touch panel 100 may include a substrate 110, a peripheral lead 120, a mark 140, a first cover C1, a second cover C2, and a touch sensing electrode TE, wherein the peripheral lead 120 is disposed between the first cover C1 and the substrate 110, the mark 140 is disposed between the second cover C2 and the substrate 110, and the touch sensing electrode TE is substantially located in a display region VA, and is formed by patterning a metal nanowire layer NWL formed by a plurality of modified metal nanowires 190, the modified metal nanowires 190 have first surfaces 191 directly contacting at intersections, and the modified metal nanowires 190 have a coating structure 180 on a second surface 192 not intersecting the intersections. By forming the coating structure 180 on the surface of the metal nanowire 190 (the second surface 192 at the non-crossing position), the light reflection of the metal nanowire 190 can be reduced or avoided, thereby improving the Haze (Haze) of the touch panel 100; in addition, the intersection points of the metal nanowires 190 are in direct contact, i.e., the coating structure 180 is not formed on the contact surface of the metal nanowires 190, so that the low resistance characteristic of the conductive network formed by the metal nanowires 190 can be maintained. For convenience of drawing, the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 shown in fig. 1A and 1B are drawn with a coating structure 180 to represent that the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 all contain the modified metal nanowire 190, and the details will be described later with reference to fig. 1A and 1B.

The first cover C1 and the second cover C2 may be formed of a metal nanowire layer NWL of unmodified or modified metal nanowires 190, such as an unmodified or modified nano silver wire (silver nanowire) layer, an unmodified or modified nano gold wire (gold nanowire) layer, or an unmodified or modified nano copper wire (copper nanowire) layer, according to different processes.

Referring to fig. 1, the substrate 110 has a display area VA and a peripheral area PA disposed at a side of the display area VA, for example, the peripheral area PA may be a frame-shaped area disposed at a periphery (i.e. covering a right side, a left side, an upper side and a lower side) of the display area VA, but in other embodiments, the peripheral area PA may be an L-shaped area disposed at the left side and the lower side of the display area VA. As shown in fig. 1, the present embodiment has eight groups of peripheral wires 120 and the first covers C1 corresponding to the peripheral wires 120 are disposed on the peripheral area PA of the substrate 110; the touch sensing electrode TE is disposed in the display area VA of the substrate 110. In the embodiment, two sets of marks 140 and a second cover C2 corresponding to the marks 140 are disposed in the peripheral area PA of the substrate 110, and the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 are disposed on the upper surface 122 of the peripheral lead 120 and the upper surface 144 of the mark 140, respectively, so that the upper and lower layers of material are formed at predetermined positions without being aligned, thereby reducing or avoiding the requirement of disposing an alignment error area in the process, reducing the width of the peripheral area PA, and further achieving the requirement of a narrow frame of the display.

Referring to fig. 2A to 2D, a manufacturing method of the touch panel 100 is shown: first, a substrate 110 having a peripheral area PA and a display area VA defined in advance is provided. Next, forming a metal layer ML in the peripheral area PA (as shown in fig. 2A); next, disposing unmodified metal nanowires 190 on the substrate 110 to form a metal nanowire layer NWL in the peripheral region PA and the display region VA (as shown in fig. 2B), wherein the metal nanowires 190 have first surfaces 191 directly contacting at the intersection points and second surfaces 192 at the non-intersection points; then, a modification step is performed, in which the modified metal nanowire 190 is formed with a coating structure 180 on the second surface 192 of the non-intersection point (as shown in fig. 2C); then, patterning is performed to form a patterned metal layer ML and a patterned metal nanowire layer NWL (as shown in fig. 2D), wherein the metal nanowire layer NWL located in the display area VA is patterned to form a touch sensing electrode TE (please refer to fig. 1 and fig. 1B), and the metal layer ML in the peripheral area PA can be patterned into a peripheral lead 120 or a mark 140; due to the modification step, the touch sensing electrode TE is formed by the modified metal nanowire 190.

The above steps are explained in more detail below.

Referring to fig. 2A, in this step, a metal layer ML is formed in the peripheral area PA of the substrate 110, and the metal layer ML may be patterned into the peripheral wires 120 or the marks 140. In detail, in some embodiments of the present invention, the metal layer ML may be made of metal with better conductivity, preferably a single-layer metal structure, such as a silver layer, a copper layer, etc.; or a multi-layer conductive structure, such as molybdenum/aluminum/molybdenum, copper/nickel, titanium/aluminum/titanium, molybdenum/chromium, etc., which is preferably opaque, such as having a light Transmission of less than about 90% for visible light (e.g., wavelengths between 400nm and 700 nm).

In the present embodiment, the metal may be formed on the metal nanowire layer NWL by sputtering (such as, but not limited to, physical sputtering, chemical sputtering, etc.). The metal layer ML may be selectively formed in the peripheral region PA directly instead of the display region VA, or may be formed entirely in the peripheral region PA and the display region VA, and then the metal layer ML in the display region VA is removed by etching.

In one embodiment, the copper layer is deposited on the peripheral area PA of the substrate 110 by electroless plating, i.e., under the condition of no external current, by using a suitable reducing agent, metal ions in the plating solution are reduced to metal under the catalysis of a metal catalyst and plated on the surface thereof, this process is called electroless plating (electroless plating) and is also called chemical plating (chemical plating) or autocatalytic plating (autocatalytic plating), and thus, the metal layer ML of this embodiment can be called electroless plating, electroless plating or autocatalytic plating. Specifically, for example, a plating solution whose main component is copper sulfate may be used, and the composition thereof may be, but is not limited to: copper sulfate (copper sulfate) at a concentration of 5g/L, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) at a concentration of 12g/L, formaldehyde (formaldehyde) at a concentration of 5g/L, the pH of the electroless copper plating solution was adjusted to about 11 to 13 with sodium hydroxide (sodium hydroxide), the plating bath temperature was about 50 to 70 ℃, and the reaction time for immersion was 1 to 5 minutes. In one embodiment, a catalytic layer (not shown) may be formed in the peripheral area PA of the substrate 110, and since the catalytic layer is not formed on the display area VA, the copper layer is deposited only in the peripheral area PA and is not formed in the display area VA. During the electroless plating reaction, the copper material can nucleate on the catalytic layer with catalytic/activating capability, and then the copper film can grow continuously by the self-catalysis of copper. In one embodiment, the copper layer is deposited on the peripheral area PA of the substrate 110 by sputtering (sputtering).

Referring to fig. 2B, a metal nanowire layer NWL, such as a nano silver wire layer, a nano gold wire layer, or a nano copper wire layer, including at least metal nanowires 190 is coated on the peripheral area PA and the display area VA on the substrate 110; the first portion of the metal nanowire layer NWL is mainly located in the display area VA, and the second portion is mainly formed in the peripheral area PA and disposed on the metal layer ML. The embodiment is embodied as follows: the dispersion or slurry (ink) having the metal nanowires 190 is formed on the substrate 110 by a coating method, and dried to make the metal nanowires 190 cover the surface of the substrate 110 and/or the metal layer ML, thereby forming the metal nanowire layer NWL. After the curing/drying step, the solvent and other substances are volatilized, and the metal nanowires 190 are randomly distributed on the surface of the substrate 110; preferably, the metal nanowires 190 are fixed on the surface of the substrate 110 and/or the metal layer ML without falling off to form the metal nanowire layer NWL, and the metal nanowires 190 may contact each other to provide a continuous current path, thereby forming a conductive network (conductive network). Fig. 2B is an enlarged view illustrating a contact state of the metal nanowires 190, in which first surfaces 191 of the metal nanowires 190 at the crossing positions are in contact with each other to form a path for transferring electrons, and second surfaces 192 are exposed surfaces that are not in contact with each other. Taking silver nanowires as an example, a silver nanowire and another silver nanowire can form a direct contact state at the crossing position (the first surface 191 is a silver-silver contact interface), so that a low-resistance electron transfer path is formed, and the subsequent modification operation does not affect or change the low-resistance structure of the silver-silver contact, so that the silver-silver contact structure is not influenced or changedThe electrical properties of the end product produce negative effects. In one embodiment, when the sheet resistance of a region or a structure is higher than 10⁸Ohm/square (ohm/square) may be considered as electrical insulation, preferably above 10⁴Ohm/square (ohm/square),3000 ohm/square (ohm/square),1000 ohm/square (ohm/square), 350 ohm/square (ohm/square), or 100 ohm/square (ohm/square).

In embodiments of the present invention, the dispersion may be water, alcohol, ketone, ether, hydrocarbon or aromatic solvent (benzene, toluene, xylene, etc.); the dispersion may also contain additives, surfactants or binders such as carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), 2-Hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC), sulfonates, sulfates, disulfonates, sulfosuccinates, phosphates or fluorosurfactants, and the like. The dispersion or slurry containing the metal nanowires 190 can be formed on the surface of the substrate 110 and the metal layer ML by any method, such as but not limited to: screen printing, nozzle coating, roller coating and other processes; in one embodiment, the dispersion or slurry containing the metal nanowires 190 can be applied to the surface of the continuously supplied substrate 110 and the metal layer ML by a roll-to-roll (RTR) process.

As used herein, "metal nanowires (metal nanowires)" is a collective term referring to a collection of metal wires comprising a plurality of elemental metals, metal alloys or metal compounds (including metal oxides), wherein the number of metal nanowires contained therein does not affect the scope of the claimed invention; and at least one cross-sectional dimension (i.e., cross-sectional diameter) of the single metal nanowire is less than about 500nm, preferably less than about 100nm, and more preferably less than about 50 nm; the metal nanostructures referred to in the present invention as "wires" mainly have a high aspect ratio, for example, between about 10 and 100,000, and more particularly, the aspect ratio (length: diameter of cross section) of the metal nanowires may be greater than about 10, preferably greater than about 50, and more preferably greater than about 100; the metal nanowires can be any metal including, but not limited to, silver, gold, copper, nickel, and gold-plated silver. Other terms such as silk (silk), fiber (fiber), tube (tube) and the like having the same dimensions and high aspect ratio are also included in the scope of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 2C, a modification step is performed to form a metal nanowire layer NWL composed of a plurality of modified metal nanowires 190. That is, after the modification, at least a portion of the initial metal nanowires 190 in the metal nanowire layer NWL is modified to form the coating structure 180 on the surface thereof to form the modified metal nanowires 190. In one embodiment, the coating structure 180 can be formed by coating, chemical plating, electroplating or sputtering, and the coating structure 180 can be a layer structure, an island-shaped protrusion structure, a dot-shaped protrusion structure or a combination thereof made of a conductive material, and the coating rate is about 0.1-10% of the total surface area of the nanowire; the conductive material may be silver, gold, platinum, copper, iridium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, or the like, or Graphene (Graphene), carbon nanotubes, a conductive polymer (such as PEDOT: PSS), a conductive oxide (such as ITO), or the like. In one embodiment, the following solution may be prepared to deposit palladium on the metal nanowires 190 to form the coating structure 180, and the solution may contain palladium precursors such as but not limited to: PdSO₄、PdCl₂、Pd(NO₃)₂、Pd(SCN)₂…, dissolved in an acidic/neutral/basic solvent such as: sulfuric acid, nitric acid, NaOH, NaH2PO2, KIO₃And ethylendiamine …, the solution may contain a number of stabilizers or reducing agents or chelating agents.

It is noted that the modification step is performed after the formation of the metal nanowire layer NWL. After the film formation, the metal nanowires 190 have substantially formed a lap-joint pattern in which the metal nanowires are in contact with each other, that is, one surface (i.e., the first surface 191) of one metal nanowire 190 has been in direct contact with the first surface 191 of another metal nanowire 190, so that the coating structure 180 formed in the modification step is not formed on the first surface 191 but selectively formed on the other exposed surface (i.e., the second surface 192). Accordingly, the coating structure 180 formed by the modification step does not negatively affect the conductive paths formed by the bonding, thereby maintaining the low resistance transmission path formed by the metal nanowires 190.

Patterning is then performed as shown in fig. 2D. The patterning step is mainly to form an electrode structure, wherein a metal nanowire layer NWL formed by the modified metal nanowires 190 in the display area VA is patterned to form the electrode structure; similarly, the metal nanowire layer NWL and the metal layer ML in the peripheral area PA are patterned to form an electrode structure, and the electrode structures in the two areas constitute an electrode group applicable to touch sensing. For clarity of drawing, the reference sign "V" is not drawn in fig. 2D, and only the second surface 192 of the modified metal nanowire 190 in the display region VA (i.e., the exposed surface on which the covering structure 180 is formed) is drawn in an enlarged manner, and the overlapping pattern of the two metal nanowires 190 is not drawn in fig. 2D either; in fig. 1A, 1B and 2D, the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and/or the second cover C2 all include the modified metal nanowire 190.

In one embodiment, the metal nanowire layer NWL and the metal layer ML containing the modified metal nanowires 190 can be simultaneously etched in the peripheral region PA by using an etching solution, and an etching mask (such as a photoresist) is used to fabricate the patterned metal layer ML and the patterned metal nanowire layer NWL in one step. As shown in fig. 2D and with reference to fig. 1 and 1A, the patterned metal layer ML on the peripheral region PA is the peripheral lead 120, and the patterned metal nanowire layer NWL constitutes an etching layer, which is also referred to as a first cover C1 because the etching layer of the present embodiment is located on the peripheral lead 120; in other words, after the patterning step, the peripheral area PA forms the first coverages C1 composed of the second portions of the metal nanowire layers NWL and the peripheral leads 120 composed of the metal layer ML. In another embodiment, an etching layer formed by the second portion of the metal nanowire layer NWL, and the peripheral wires 120 and the marks 140 formed by the metal layer ML (please refer to fig. 1, 1A and 1B) may be fabricated on the peripheral region PA, where the etching layer may include a first cover C1 and a second cover C2, the first cover C1 is disposed on the corresponding peripheral wire 120, and the second cover C2 is disposed on the corresponding mark 140. Since the single-step etching method is adopted, the sidewall 122 of the peripheral lead 120 and the side C1L of the first cap C1 are a common etching surface and aligned with each other, that is, the sidewall 122 of the peripheral lead 120 and the side C1L of the first cap C1 are formed in the same etching step; similarly, the sidewall 142 of the mark 140 and the side C2L of the second cover C2 are a common etched surface and aligned with each other.

In one embodiment, the metal nanowire layer NWL and the metal layer ML can be etched simultaneously, meaning that the ratio of the etching rates of the metal nanowire layer NWL and the metal layer ML is between about 0.1-10 or 0.01-100.

According to one embodiment, the metal nanowire layer NWL is made of silver nanowires, and has a palladium coating structure 180 on the surface of the non-intersection points, and the metal layer ML is a copper layer, the etching solution can be used for the components capable of etching copper and silver, for example, the etching solution has a main component H₃PO₄(ratio of about 55% to 70%) and HNO₃(ratio of about 5% to 15%) to remove the copper material and the silver material in the same process. In another embodiment, additives, such as etch selectivity modifiers, may be added in addition to the main components of the etching solution to adjust the rates of etching copper and etching silver; for example, the main component may be H₃PO₄(ratio of about 55% to 70%) and HNO₃To solve the problem of over-etching of copper, about 5 to 10% of benzotriazole (bta) was added (ratio of about 5 to 15%). In another specific embodiment, the main component of the etching solution is ferric chloride/nitric acid or phosphoric acid/hydrogen peroxide.

The patterning step may further include: the patterning of the metal nanowire layer NWL in the display area VA is performed at the same time. In other words, as shown in fig. 2D, the etching mask (e.g., photoresist) may be used to pattern the first portion of the metal nanowire layer NWL of the display area VA with the etching solution to form the touch sensing electrode TE of the present embodiment in the display area VA, and the touch sensing electrode TE may be electrically connected to the peripheral lead 120. Specifically, the touch sensing electrode TE may be a metal nanowire layer NWL including at least the modified metal nanowires 190. In general, the patterned metal nanowire layer NWL forms the touch sensing electrode TE in the display area VA and the first cover C1 in the peripheral area PA, so that the touch sensing electrode TE can be electrically connected to the peripheral wires 120 by the contact between the first cover C1 and the peripheral wires 120 for signal transmission. In the embodiment, the metal nanowire layer NWL may also form a second cover C2 on the peripheral region PA, which is disposed on the upper surface of the mark 140 (as shown in fig. 1A), and the mark 140 can be widely interpreted as a pattern with a non-electrical function, but not limited thereto. In some embodiments of the present invention, the peripheral lead 120 and the mark 140 may be made of the same metal layer ML (i.e., they are made of the same metal material, such as the aforementioned electroless copper plating layer or sputtering copper plating layer); for clarity, the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 are fabricated on the same metal nanowire layer NWL, and for clarity, the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 shown in fig. 1A and 1B are drawn with a coating structure 180, which means that the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 are all composed of modified metal nanowires 190.

In an alternative embodiment, the metal nanowire layers NWL in the display area VA and the peripheral area PA may be patterned by different etching steps (i.e. different etching solutions are used), for example, in the case that the metal nanowire layers NWL are nano-silver layers and the metal layer ML is a copper layer, the etching solution used in the display area VA may be an etching solution having an etching capability only for silver. For example, the etching solution is selected to have an etching rate for silver that is about 100 times greater, about 1000 times greater, or about 10000 times greater than the etching rate for copper.

The touch panel 100 shown in fig. 1 to 1B can be manufactured by the above steps, for example, the patterned metal nanowire layer NWL in the display area VA constitutes the touch sensing electrode TE of the touch panel 100; the patterned metal layer ML in the peripheral area PA forms the peripheral leads 120 of the touch panel 100, the patterned metal nanowire layer NWL forms an etching layer (e.g., the first cover C1), and the peripheral leads 120 and the first cover C1 form conductive traces in the peripheral area PA, so as to be connected to an external controller.

In the present embodiment, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 may be a metal nanowire layer NWL including at least modified metal nanowires 190, such as a modified silver nanowire layer, a modified gold nanowire layer, or a modified copper nanowire layer.

The touch sensing electrode TE of the present embodiment is disposed in the display area VA, and the touch sensing electrode TE can be electrically connected to the peripheral lead 120. Specifically, the touch sensing electrode TE may also be a metal nanowire layer NWL including at least the modified metal nanowires 190, that is, the metal nanowire layer NWL forms the touch sensing electrode TE in the display area VA and forms the first cover C1 in the peripheral area PA, so that the touch sensing electrode TE can be electrically connected to the peripheral lead 120 for signal transmission by the contact between the first cover C1 and the peripheral lead 120.

The metal nanowires 190 also form a second cover C2 in the peripheral region PA, and the mark 140 is disposed between the corresponding second cover C2 and the substrate 110. In some embodiments of the present invention, the peripheral lead 120 and the mark 140 may be made of the same metal layer (i.e., the same metal material) and formed in the same patterning step; the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 can be formed by a metal nanowire layer on the same layer and formed in the same patterning step.

Referring to fig. 1A, as shown in fig. 1A, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 are respectively formed to cover the upper surface 124 of the peripheral lead 120 and the upper surface 144 of the mark 140. In some embodiments of the present invention, the metal nanowire may be a silver nanowire. For convenience of illustration, the cross-section of the peripheral lead 120 and the mark 140 is a quadrilateral (e.g., a rectangle as drawn in fig. 1A), but the structural configuration or number of the sidewall 122 and the upper surface 124 of the peripheral lead 120 and the sidewall 142 and the upper surface 144 of the mark 140 may vary according to practical applications, and is not limited by the text and the drawings herein.

In the present embodiment, the mark 140 is a bonding area BA (see fig. 1) disposed in the peripheral area PA, which is a mark for aligning an external circuit board, such as a flexible circuit board, with the touch panel 100 in a step of connecting the flexible circuit board to the touch panel 100 (i.e., a bonding step). However, the present invention is not limited to the placement position or function of the mark 140, for example, the mark 140 may be any inspection mark, pattern or label required in the process, and is within the protection scope of the present invention. The indicia 140 may have any possible shape, such as a circle, a quadrilateral, a cross, an L-shape, a T-shape, and so forth. On the other hand, the portion of the peripheral lead 120 extending to the bonding area BA may also be referred to as a connection portion (bonding section), and the upper surface of the connection portion at the bonding area BA is also covered by the first cover C1, as in the previous embodiment.

As shown in fig. 1A and 1B, in the peripheral region PA, a non-conductive region 136 is disposed between adjacent peripheral wires 120 to electrically isolate the adjacent peripheral wires 120 and thus avoid short circuit. That is, the sidewall 122 of the adjacent peripheral lead 120 has the non-conductive region 136 therebetween, and in the present embodiment, the non-conductive region 136 is a gap to isolate the adjacent peripheral lead 120. In the step of disposing the first cover C1 on the peripheral wires 120, the above-mentioned gap can be formed by etching, so that the sidewall 122 of the peripheral wires 120 and the side surface C1L of the first cover C1 are coplanar after etching, that is, the sidewall 122 of the peripheral wires 120 and the side surface C1L of the first cover C1 are formed in the same etching step; similarly, the sidewall 142 of the mark 140 and the side C2L of the second cap C2 are coplanar after etching. In one embodiment, the sidewalls 122 and 142 of the peripheral wires 120 and 140 are not covered by the metal nanowires due to the etching process. In more detail, in the bonding area BA shown in fig. 1A, the non-conductive region 136 is located between adjacent connecting portions (bonding sections), and the sidewall 122 of the connecting portion (bonding section) and the side face C1L of the first cover C1 are coplanar after etching. Furthermore, the peripheral leads 120 and the first cover C1 have the same or similar patterns and sizes, such as long and straight patterns, and the same or similar widths; the indicia 140 and the second cover C2 may also have the same or similar patterns and dimensions, such as circles each having the same or similar radius, quadrilaterals each having the same or similar side length, or other patterns having the same or similar cross, L, T, etc.

As shown in fig. 1B, in the display area VA, a non-conductive area 136 is disposed between the adjacent touch sensing electrodes TE to electrically block the adjacent touch sensing electrodes TE and thus avoid short circuit. That is, the sidewall of the adjacent touch sensing electrode TE has a non-conductive region 136 therebetween, and in the present embodiment, the non-conductive region 136 is a gap to isolate the adjacent touch sensing electrode TE; in one embodiment, the above-mentioned etching method can be used to fabricate the gap between the adjacent touch sensing electrodes TE. In the present embodiment, the touch sensing electrode TE and the first cover C1 can be fabricated by using the same metal nanowire layer (e.g., a layer of silver nanowires) so that at the boundary between the display area VA and the peripheral area PA, the metal nanowire layer forms a climbing structure to facilitate the formation of the metal nanowire layer and cover the upper surface 124 of the peripheral lead 120, thereby forming the first cover C1, as shown in fig. 1B.

The utility model discloses an among the partial implementation, first cover C1 and second cover C2 of touch panel 100 set up in the upper surface 122 of peripheral lead wire 120 and the upper surface 144 of mark 140 through the etching respectively, can reach and reduce or avoid setting up the demand in counterpoint error zone in the technology to reduce the width in peripheral region PA, and then reach the narrow frame demand of display. Specifically, the width of the peripheral leads 120 of the touch panel 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention is 5um to 30um, and the distance between adjacent peripheral leads 120 is 5um to 30 um; alternatively, the width of the peripheral leads 120 of the touch panel 100 is 3um to 20um, the distance between adjacent peripheral leads 120 is 3um to 20um, and the width of the peripheral area PA can also reach a size smaller than 2mm, which is reduced by about 20% or more compared with the conventional touch panel 100.

As shown in fig. 1, the touch sensing electrodes TE are arranged in a non-staggered manner. For example, the touch sensing electrode TE is a strip-shaped electrode extending along the first direction D1 and having a width varying along the second direction D2, which are not staggered with each other, but in other embodiments, the touch sensing electrode TE may have a suitable shape, which should not limit the scope of the present invention. In this embodiment, the touch sensing electrodes TE are configured as a single layer, wherein the touch position can be obtained by detecting the capacitance change of each touch sensing electrode TE.

In an embodiment, the touch panel 100 may include a film layer 130, and fig. 3A and 3B are schematic cross-sectional views of the film layer 130 formed in the embodiment of fig. 1. In one embodiment, the film 130 is disposed on the unmodified metal nanowires 190, such that the film 130 covers the unmodified metal nanowires 190, and then the modification step and the patterning step are sequentially performed. In an embodiment, the polymer of the film 130 may penetrate into the metal nanowires 190 to form a filler before or in a pre-cured state, and after the polymer is cured, the metal nanowires 190 may be embedded into the film 130 to form a composite structure CS, and the conditions for coating and curing the polymer are controlled such that the thickness (e.g., less than 100 nm) of the film 130 may expose a portion of the unmodified metal nanowires 190. That is, before the modification step, a portion of the metal nanowire 190 is embedded in the film 130, and the embedded non-exposed metal nanowire 190 and the film 130 form a composite structure CS, and the metal nanowire 190 may further have an exposed portion exposed or protruding from the film 130. In the subsequent modification step, only the exposed portion is processed by the above method to form the modified metal nanowire 190, and the unmodified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 maintains its original state without being affected by the modification step. In some embodiments of the present invention, the film 130 is formed of an insulating material. For example, the material of the film 130 may be a non-conductive resin or other organic material. In some embodiments of the present invention, the film 130 may be formed by spin coating, spray coating, printing, or the like. In some embodiments, the thickness of the film 130 is about 20 nm to 10 μm, or 50nm to 200 nm, or 30 to 100nm, for example, the thickness of the film 130 may be about 90 nm or 100 nm.

As shown in fig. 3A and 3B, in the peripheral region PA, the exposed metal nanowires 190 exposed or protruding from the film layer 130 have a coating structure 180 due to the modification step. For simplicity, the coating structure 180 is drawn outside the film 130 (or the composite structure CS) to show that the metal nanowire 190 exposed or protruding from the film 130 has the coating structure 180 due to the modification step; while the metal nanowires 190 are omitted from the film layer 130 (or the composite structure CS). In addition, the unmodified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 and the film 130 may form a transparent and conductive composite structure CS; after the etching step, the composite structure CS and the modified metal nanowire 190 form the first cover C1 and the second cover C2, in other words, in the embodiment, the first cover C1/the second cover C2 have both the unmodified metal nanowire 190 (i.e., the metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130) and the modified metal nanowire 190 (i.e., the metal nanowire 190 exposed in the film 130), and the peripheral lead 120 is in contact with the composite structure CS to achieve the transmission of the electrical signal.

As shown in fig. 3B, in the display region VA, the exposed metal nanowire 190 exposed or protruding from the film layer 130 has a coating structure 180 due to the modification step, and for simplicity of the drawing, the coating structure 180 is drawn outside the film layer 130 (or the composite structure CS) to show that the metal nanowire 190 exposed or protruding from the film layer 130 has the coating structure 180 due to the modification step. Furthermore, the unmodified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 and the film 130 may form a transparent and conductive composite structure CS; after the etching step, the composite structure CS and the modified metal nanowire 190 form the touch sensing electrode TE, in other words, in the embodiment, the touch sensing electrode TE has both the unmodified metal nanowire 190 (i.e., the metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130) and the modified metal nanowire 190 (i.e., the metal nanowire 190 exposed in the film 130), and the modified metal nanowire 190 is exposed or protrudes out of the composite structure CS.

In the present embodiment, the composite structure CS of the display region VA and the modified metal nanowire 190 preferably has conductivity and light transmittance, for example, the light transmittance (Transmission) of visible light (e.g., wavelength between about 400nm and 700nm) of the touch sensing electrode TE may be greater than about 80%, and the surface resistivity (surface resistance) is between about 10 to 1000 ohm/square (ohm/square); alternatively, the transmittance (Transmission) of visible light (e.g., wavelength between about 400nm-700nm) of the touch sensing electrode TE is greater than about 85%, and the surface resistivity (surface resistance) is between about 50 to 500 ohm/square (ohm/square). In one embodiment, the transmittance (Transmission) of visible light (e.g., wavelength between about 400nm-700nm) of the touch sensing electrode TE is greater than about 88% or greater than about 90%. In an embodiment, the haze of the touch sensing electrode TE is less than 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, or 1.5.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the film 130 may be Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinyl butyral (PVB), Polycarbonate (PC), Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene; ABS), poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), poly (styrenesulfonic acid) (PSS), ceramic material, or the like. In one embodiment of the present invention, the film layer 130 may be a polymer, but is not limited to, polyacrylic resins, such as polymethacrylate (e.g., poly (methyl methacrylate)), polyacrylate, and polyacrylonitrile; polyvinyl alcohol; polyesters (e.g., polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyester naphthalate, and polycarbonate); polymers having high aromaticity, such as phenol-formaldehyde resins or cresol-formaldehyde, polystyrene, polyvinyltoluene, polyvinylxylene, polyimide, polyamide, polyamideimide, polyetherimide, polysulfide, polysulfone, polyphenylenes and polyphenylethers; polyurethanes (polyurethanes; PU); an epoxy resin; polyolefins (e.g., polypropylene, polymethylpentene, and cyclic olefins); cellulose; silicones and other silicon-containing polymers (e.g., polysilsesquioxanes and polysilanes); polyvinyl chloride (PVC); a polyacetate; polynorbornene; synthetic rubbers (e.g., ethylene-Propylene Rubber (EPR), styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR), ethylene-Propylene-Diene Monomer (EPDM), and fluoropolymers (e.g., polyvinylidene fluoride, polytetrafluoroethylene (TFE), or polyhexafluoropropylene), copolymers of fluoro-olefins and hydrocarbon olefins, etc. in other embodiments, silica, alumina-rich red Rubber (EPR), styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR), ethylene-Propylene-Diene Monomer (EPDM), and fluoropolymers (e.g., polyvinylidene fluoride, polytetrafluoroethylene (TFE), or polyhexafluoropropylene) may be usedPillared stone, alumina, SiC, carbon fiber, MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂、Al₂O₃-SiO₂Or MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-Li₂And O and the like.

In some embodiments, the metal nanowires 190 may be further post-treated to improve the contact characteristics of the metal nanowires 190 at the crossing points, such as increasing the contact area and thus the conductivity, and the post-treatment may be a process step including, for example, heating, plasma, corona discharge, UV ozone, pressure, or a combination thereof. For example, after the step of solidifying to form the metal nanowire layer, a roller may be used to apply pressure thereon, in one embodiment, a pressure of 50 to 3400psi, preferably 100 to 1000psi, 200 to 800psi, or 300 to 500psi, may be applied to the metal nanowire layer by one or more rollers; the step of applying pressure is preferably performed before the step of coating the film layer 130. In some embodiments, the post-treatment with heat and pressure may be performed simultaneously; in particular, the metal nanowires 190 may be formed by applying pressure via one or more rollers as described above while heating, for example, the pressure applied by the rollers is 10 to 500psi, preferably 40 to 100 psi; simultaneously, the roller is heated to a temperature between about 70 ℃ and 200 ℃, preferably between about 100 ℃ and 175 ℃, which improves the conductivity of the metal nanowires 190. In some embodiments, the metal nanowires 190 may preferably be exposed to a reducing agent for post-treatment, for example, the metal nanowires 190 comprising nano-silver wires may preferably be exposed to a silver reducing agent for post-treatment, the silver reducing agent comprising a borohydride, such as sodium borohydride; boron nitrogen compounds such as Dimethylaminoborane (DMAB); or gaseous reducing agents, such as hydrogen (H)₂) (ii) a And the exposure time is from about 10 seconds to about 30 minutes, preferably from about 1 minute to about 10 minutes. Through the post-treatment step, the contact strength or area of the metal nanowire 190 at the intersection point can be enhanced, and the contact surface (i.e., the first surface 191) of the metal nanowire 190 at the intersection point can be further ensured not to be affected by the modification treatment.

In one embodiment, after the modification step, the film 130 is disposed on the modified metal nanowire 190, such that the film 130 covers the modified metal nanowire 190, and then the patterning step is performed. In an embodiment, the polymer of the film 130 may penetrate into the metal nanowires 190 to form a filler before being cured or in a pre-cured state, and after the polymer is cured, the metal nanowires 190 may be embedded into the film 130 to form a composite structure CS, and the conditions for coating and curing the polymer are controlled, so that a portion of the modified metal nanowires 190 may be exposed by the thickness of the film 130 (for example, less than 100 nanometers), or the modified metal nanowires 190 may be completely coated by increasing the thickness of the film 130. In other words, in the present embodiment, the metal nanowire 190 exposed in the film 130 or the metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 is modified.

As shown in fig. 4A and 4B, in the peripheral region PA, the exposed metal nanowires 190 embedded in the film 130 have a coating structure 180 due to the modification step. The coating structure 180 is drawn inside the film 130 (or the composite structure CS) to show that the metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 has the coating structure 180 due to the modification step; for simplicity of the drawings, the modified metal nanowires 190 exposed on the film 130 are not illustrated in fig. 4A and 4B. In addition, the modified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 and the film 130 may form a transparent and conductive composite structure CS; after the etching step, the composite structure CS is patterned to form the first cover C1 and the second cover C2, i.e., in the embodiment, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 both have the modified metal nanowire 190 and the film 130 to form the composite structure CS, and the peripheral lead 120 is in contact with the composite structure CS to achieve the transmission of electrical signals.

As shown in fig. 4B, in the display area VA, the coating structure 180 is drawn inside the film 130 (or the composite structure CS) to indicate that the metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 has the coating structure 180 due to the modification step. The modified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 and the film 130 can form a transparent and conductive composite structure CS; after the etching step, the composite structure CS forms the touch sensing electrode TE, that is, in the embodiment, the touch sensing electrode TE has the composite structure CS formed by the modified metal nanowires 190 and the film 130.

The touch panel 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention can be manufactured as follows: first, a substrate 110 having a peripheral area PA and a display area VA defined in advance is provided. Then, forming a metal layer ML in the peripheral area PA; next, disposing unmodified metal nanowires 190 on the substrate 110 to form a metal nanowire layer NWL in the peripheral region PA and the display region VA, wherein the metal nanowires 190 have first surfaces 191 directly contacting at intersection points and second surfaces 192 at non-intersection points; patterning to form a metal layer ML with patterns and a metal nanowire layer NWL; then, a modification step is performed, in which the modified metal nanowire 190 has a coating structure 180 on the second surface, wherein the metal nanowire layer NWL in the display area VA is patterned to form a touch sensing electrode TE, and the touch sensing electrode TE is formed by the modified metal nanowire 190 due to the modification step. The sequence of steps in this embodiment is different from that in the previous embodiment, but the detailed descriptions of similar steps can be found in the foregoing description, and are not repeated herein.

The touch panel 100 shown in fig. 5A to 5B is the touch panel 100 manufactured by the steps of this embodiment. In the present embodiment, the first covering C1/the second covering C2 may be a metal nanowire layer at least including modified metal nanowires 190, such as a modified silver nanowire layer, a modified gold nanowire layer, or a modified copper nanowire layer. The touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 may be fabricated on the same metal nanowire layer NWL, and for clarity, a coating structure 180 is drawn in the touch sensing electrode TE shown in fig. 5A and 5B to represent that the metal nanowires 190 in the touch sensing electrode TE are modified; similarly, the coating structure 180 is drawn on the first and second covers C1 and C2 to represent the modified metal nanowires 190 in the first and second covers C1 and C2.

As shown in fig. 5B, the touch sensing electrode TE of the present embodiment is mainly disposed in the display area VA, and the touch sensing electrode TE is electrically connected to the peripheral lead 120. Similar to the previous embodiment, the touch sensing electrode TE may be a metal nanowire layer NWL at least including modified metal nanowires 190, that is, the metal nanowire layer is patterned and modified in the display area VA to form the touch sensing electrode TE.

As shown in fig. 5A and 5B, since the modification step is performed after the patterning step, the first cap C1 is formed for the modified metal nanowire 190 and disposed on the upper surface 124 of the peripheral lead 120; the second cover C2 is formed by the modified metal nanowires 190 and is disposed on the upper surface 144 of the marker 140. Furthermore, the modification step forms a coating structure 180 on the exposed surface of the peripheral lead 120, for example, the coating structure 180 is formed on the side surface 122 of the peripheral lead 120; similarly, the modification step forms a coating structure 180 on the exposed surface of the mark 140, for example, the coating structure 180 is formed on the side surface 142 of the mark 140.

The touch panel 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention can be manufactured as follows: first, a substrate 110 having a peripheral area PA and a display area VA defined in advance is provided. Then, forming a metal layer ML in the peripheral area PA; next, disposing unmodified metal nanowires 190 on the substrate 110 to form a metal nanowire layer NWL in the peripheral region PA and the display region VA, wherein the metal nanowires 190 have first surfaces 191 directly contacting at intersection points and second surfaces 192 at non-intersection points; then, a film layer 130 is formed, and the film layer 130 and the metal nanowire 190 can form a composite structure CS; patterning to form a metal layer ML with patterns and a metal nanowire layer NWL; then, a modification step is performed, in which the modified metal nanowire 190 has a coating structure 180 on the second surface, wherein the metal nanowire layer NWL in the display area VA is patterned to form a touch sensing electrode TE, and due to the modification step, the touch sensing electrode TE is formed by the unmodified and modified metal nanowires 190. The sequence of steps in this embodiment is different from that in the previous embodiment, but the detailed descriptions of similar steps can be found in the foregoing description, and are not repeated herein.

The touch panel 100 shown in fig. 6A to 6B is the touch panel 100 manufactured by the steps of this embodiment. In the present embodiment, the first covering C1/the second covering C2 may be a metal nanowire layer at least including unmodified and modified metal nanowires 190, such as an unmodified and modified silver nanowire layer, an unmodified and modified gold nanowire layer, or an unmodified and modified copper nanowire layer. For clarity, the touch sensing electrode TE, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2 may be fabricated on the same metal nanowire layer NWL, and for clarity, the coating structure 180 is drawn outside the film layer 130 (or the composite structure CS) in the drawings shown in fig. 6A and 6B to show that the metal nanowires 190 exposed or protruding from the film layer 130 have the coating structure 180 due to the modification step; while the metal nanowires 190 are omitted from the film layer 130 (or the composite structure CS). In addition, the unmodified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 and the film 130 may form a transparent and conductive composite structure CS, which represents that the touch sensing electrode TE includes the modified and unmodified metal nanowire 190; similarly, the outer sides of the first cap C1 and the second cap C2 are drawn with a capping structure 180 to represent that the first cap C1 and the second cap C2 include modified and unmodified metal nanowires 190.

As shown in fig. 6B, the touch sensing electrode TE of the present embodiment is mainly disposed in the display area VA, and the touch sensing electrode TE is electrically connected to the peripheral lead 120. Similar to the previous embodiment, the touch sensing electrode TE may be a composite structure CS at least including modified metal nanowires 190, that is, the composite structure CS in the display area VA is patterned and then modified to form the touch sensing electrode TE, so that the exposed surface of the touch sensing electrode TE is exposed or protruded, for example, the metal nanowires 190 on the side surface or the upper surface have a coating structure 180 due to the modification step; furthermore, the unmodified metal nanowire 190 embedded in the film 130 and the film 130 may form a transparent and conductive composite CS.

As shown in fig. 6A and 6B, since the modification step is performed after the patterning step, the first cover C1 includes the modified metal nanowires 190 and the transparent and conductive composite CS formed by the unmodified metal nanowires 190 and the film 130, and is disposed on the upper surface 124 of the peripheral lead 120; the second cover C2 also includes the modified metal nanowires 190 and the transparent and conductive composite CS formed by the unmodified metal nanowires 190 and the film 130, and is disposed on the upper surface 144 of the mark 140. Furthermore, the modification step forms a coating structure 180 on the exposed surface of the peripheral lead 120, for example, the coating structure 180 is formed on the side surface 122 of the peripheral lead 120; similarly, the modification step forms a coating structure 180 on the exposed surface of the mark 140, for example, the coating structure 180 is formed on the side surface 142 of the mark 140.

In one embodiment, the covering structure 180 may also be formed on the side M1L or the upper surface of the first cover C1, or on the side M2L or the upper surface of the second cover C2.

In an embodiment, the peripheral region PA may be first shielded by a shielding material, so that the covering structure 180 is only formed in the display region VA, in other words, only the touch sensing electrode TE of the display region VA is subjected to the above modification step. Alternatively, a removing step may be performed to remove the coating structure 180 formed on the exposed surfaces of the peripheral wires 120, the marks 140, the first cover C1 and the second cover C2.

In an embodiment, the touch panel 100 further includes a protection layer 150, which can be applied to various embodiments, and the embodiment of fig. 1B is merely used as an example. FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of a protective layer 150 formed on the embodiment of FIG. 1B. It is noted that the material of the protection layer 150 can refer to the exemplary material of the film layer 130 described above. In one embodiment, the passivation layer 150 covers the touch panel 100 in a full-scale manner, that is, the passivation layer 150 covers the touch sensing electrodes TE, the peripheral leads 120, the markers 140, the first cover C1, and the second cover C2. The passivation layer 150 may fill the non-conductive region 136 between the adjacent peripheral wires 120 to isolate the adjacent peripheral wires 120, or the passivation layer 150 may fill the non-conductive region 136 between the adjacent touch sensing electrodes TE to isolate the adjacent touch sensing electrodes TE. In addition, for a single set of corresponding peripheral leads 120 and first cover C1, the passivation layer 150 surrounds the single set of corresponding upper and lower peripheral leads 120 and first cover C1; similarly, for a single set of corresponding indicia 140 and second overlay C2, protective layer 150 surrounds the single set of corresponding indicia 140 and second overlay C2.

Fig. 8 is a schematic top view of a touch panel 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention, in which a touch sensing electrode TE of the present embodiment has a double-layer configuration; fig. 8A is a cross-sectional view taken along line a-a of fig. 8.

For convenience of description, the configuration adopted in the present embodiment is described with reference to the first touch electrode TE1 and the second touch electrode TE 2. The first touch electrode TE1 is formed on one surface (such as the upper surface) of the substrate 110, and the second touch electrode TE2 is formed on the other surface (such as the lower surface) of the substrate 110, so that the first touch electrode TE1 and the second touch electrode TE2 are electrically insulated from each other; the peripheral lead 120 electrically connected to the first touch electrode TE1 is covered by the corresponding first cover C1; similarly, the peripheral lead 120 connected to the second touch electrode TE2 is covered by the corresponding first cover C1. The first touch electrode TE1 is a plurality of strip electrodes arranged along the first direction D1, and the second touch electrode TE2 is a plurality of strip electrodes arranged along the second direction D2. As shown in the figure, the extending directions of the elongated touch sensing electrodes TE1 and the elongated touch sensing electrodes TE2 are different and are staggered with each other. The first touch sensing electrode TE1 and the second touch sensing electrode TE2 can be used for transmitting a control signal and receiving a touch sensing signal, respectively. From this, the touch position can be obtained by detecting a signal change (e.g., a capacitance change) between the first touch sensing electrode TE1 and the second touch sensing electrode TE 2. With this arrangement, a user can perform touch sensing at each point on the substrate 110. As in the previous embodiments, the first touch sensing electrode TE1 and/or the second touch sensing electrode TE2 may at least include a modified metal nanowire 190 (for simplicity, fig. 8A shows the modified metal nanowire 190 as a coating structure 180), and the first cover C1 may be made of a modified or unmodified metal nanowire 190. In other embodiments, the first cover C1 or the second cover C2 may be made of modified or unmodified metal nanowires 190 according to the above method, and the outer surface of the peripheral lead 120 or the mark 140 may be formed with the covering structure 180 according to the above method.

The utility model discloses a touch panel of two-sided pattern among the implementation mode can follow following mode preparation: first, a substrate 110 having a peripheral area PA and a display area VA defined in advance is provided. Then, forming a metal layer ML on the first and second surfaces (such as the upper surface and the lower surface) of the substrate 110, respectively, where the metal layer ML is located in the peripheral region PA; then forming a metal nanowire layer NWL in the peripheral area PA and the display area VA of the first surface and the second surface; then, a modification step is performed to form a coating structure 180 (except for the contact surface at the intersection) on the metal nanowires 190 on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 110; then, the metal nanowire layer NWL and the metal layer ML on the first and second surfaces are patterned, so as to form a first touch electrode TE1, a second touch electrode TE2 and a peripheral lead 120 on the first and second surfaces, and the first cover C1 covers the peripheral lead 120.

Like the previous embodiment, any side (such as the upper surface or the lower surface) of the substrate 110 may further include the mark 140 and the second cover C2.

It should be noted that all the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to a double-sided and double-sided touch panel, and are not limited to the implementation methods illustrated in the previous paragraphs.

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a double-sided touch panel, which is formed by laminating two sets of single-sided touch panels in the same direction or in the opposite direction. By way of example of the reverse stacking, the touch electrodes of the first set of single-sided touch panels may be disposed upward (for example, closest to the user, but not limited thereto), the touch electrodes of the second set of single-sided touch panels may be disposed downward (for example, farthest from the user, but not limited thereto), and the substrates of the two sets of touch panels are assembled and fixed by an optical adhesive or other similar adhesive, thereby forming the double-sided touch panel.

Fig. 9 is a schematic top view of a touch panel 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention, in which the touch panel 100 further includes a shielding wire 160 disposed in the peripheral region PA. The shielding wire 160 mainly surrounds the touch sensing electrode TE and the peripheral lead 120, and the shielding wire 160 extends to the bonding area and is electrically connected to the ground terminal of the flexible circuit board, so that the shielding wire 160 can shield or eliminate signal interference or Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection, especially small current change caused by touching the connecting wire around the touch device by a human hand.

The shielding wire 160 may be made of a metal material, preferably as described with reference to the peripheral lead 120 or the mark 140; the shielded conductive wire 160 has a third covering C3, which is made of modified or unmodified metal nanowires 190, and the embodiment can refer to the description of the first covering C1 or the second covering C2. In some embodiments of the present invention, the shielding wire 160, the peripheral lead 120 and the mark 140 may be made of the same metal layer ML (i.e., the three are made of the same metal material); the touch sensing electrode TE, the third cover C3, the first cover C1, and the second cover C2 may be formed of a metal nanowire layer NWL (e.g., a nano-silver wire layer) on the same layer, and the metal nanowire 190 may be modified according to the foregoing process to have the covering structure 180.

Fig. 10 shows another embodiment of the single-sided touch panel 100 of the present invention, which is a single-sided bridge type touch panel. This embodiment is different from the above embodiments at least in that the touch sensing electrode TE formed by the transparent conductive layer (i.e., the metal nanowire layer 140A) formed on the substrate 110 after the patterning step may include: the first touch sensing electrodes TE1 arranged along the first direction D1, the second touch sensing electrodes TE2 arranged along the second direction D2, and the connecting electrodes CE electrically connecting two adjacent first touch sensing electrodes TE1, that is, the first touch sensing electrodes TE1, the second touch sensing electrodes TE2, and the connecting electrodes CE are made of modified or unmodified metal nanowires 190; in addition, the insulating block 164 may be disposed on the connection electrode CE, for example, the insulating block 164 is formed of silicon dioxide; the bridging wires 162 are disposed on the insulating block 164, for example, the bridging wires 162 are formed by copper/ITO/metal nanowires, and the bridging wires 162 are connected to two adjacent second touch sensing electrodes TE2 in the second direction D2, and the insulating block 164 is disposed between the connecting electrode CE and the bridging wires 162 to electrically isolate the connecting electrode CE and the bridging wires 162, so that the touch sensing electrodes in the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 are electrically isolated from each other. For the specific implementation, reference is made to the foregoing description, which is not repeated herein.

In some embodiments, the touch panel 100 described herein can be manufactured by a Roll-to-Roll (Roll to Roll) process, which uses existing equipment and can be fully automated, significantly reducing the cost of manufacturing the touch panel. The roll-to-roll coating process is specifically a process in which a flexible substrate 110 is selected, the substrate 110 in a roll form is mounted between two rollers, and the rollers are driven by a motor so that the substrate 110 can be continuously moved along a movement path between the two rollers. For example, a slurry containing the metal nanowires 190 is deposited on the surface of the substrate 110 using a storage tank, a spraying device, a brushing device, and the like to form the metal nanowires 190; using a spray head to deposit the polymer on the surface of the substrate 110, and curing the polymer into the film 130, patterning and modifying. Subsequently, the completed touch panel 100 is rolled out by a roller at the rearmost end of the production line to form a touch sensor roll tape.

The touch sensor tape of the present embodiment may further include the protection layer 150, which covers the uncut touch panel 100 on the touch sensor roll in a full-scale manner, that is, the protection layer 150 may cover the uncut touch panels 100 on the touch sensor roll, and then be cut and separated into the individual touch panels 100.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the substrate 110 is preferably a transparent substrate, and more particularly, may be a rigid transparent substrate or a flexible transparent substrate, and the material thereof may be selected from transparent materials such as glass, acrylic (PMMA), polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), Polycarbonate (PC), Polystyrene (PS), Cyclic Olefin Polymers (COP), Colorless Polyimide (CPI), Cyclic Olefin Copolymers (COC), and the like. In order to improve the adhesion between the substrate 110 and the metal nanowires 190, a pretreatment process, such as a surface modification process, may be preferably performed on the substrate 110, or an adhesive layer or a resin layer may be additionally coated on the surface of the substrate 110.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the metal nanowires 190 may be silver nanowires or silver nanofibers (silver nanofibers) having an average diameter of about 20 to 100 nanometers, an average length of about 20 to 100 micrometers, preferably an average diameter of about 20 to 70 nanometers, and an average length of about 20 to 70 micrometers (i.e., an aspect ratio of 1000). In some embodiments, the metal nanowires 190 can have a diameter of 70 nm to 80 nm and a length of about 8 μm.

The roll-to-roll line may adjust the sequence of multiple coating steps as desired along the path of motion of the substrate or may incorporate any number of additional stations as desired. For example, pressure rollers or plasma equipment may be installed in the production line to achieve proper post-processing.

The touch panel of the embodiment of the present invention can be assembled with other electronic devices, for example, a display with touch function, for example, the substrate 110 can be attached to a display module, for example, a liquid crystal display module or an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display module, and the two can be attached by an optical adhesive or other similar adhesives; the touch sensing electrode TE can be bonded to an outer cover layer (e.g., a protective glass) by using an optical adhesive. The touch panel of the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to electronic devices such as portable phones, tablet computers, and notebook computers.

The structures of the different embodiments of the present invention can be cited, and are not limited to the above-described embodiments.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the metal nanowire 190 is modified, but the direct contact state between the metal nanowires 190 is not affected, so that the conductive property of the electrode formed by the metal nanowire 190 can be maintained, and the modified metal nanowire 190 can have better optical properties than before the modification.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the haze of the modified metal nanowire 190 can be reduced by more than 10% compared to that before the modified metal nanowire is not modified. The conductivity of the modified metal nanowire 190 is not affected, such as but not limited to, a change in resistance (corresponding to conductivity) of 5% or less, compared to that before the modification. The light transmittance of the modified metal nanowire 190 is not affected compared to that before the modification, such as but not limited to the change of the light transmittance of less than 5%, or less than 1%, or less than 0.5%, or the same light transmittance before and after the treatment.

The utility model discloses an among the partial implementation mode, utilize the palladium material of utensil blackening effect to cover in the online reflectivity that can effectively reduce silver nanometer line of silver nanometer, and then reduce its haze. The following table is a data description of specific examples.

Note: t represents light transmittance (%), H represents Haze (Haze), R represents surface resistance (ohm/square), and Δ represents the difference between before and after treatment.

The utility model discloses an among the partial implementation, have the cover by the overburden that metal nanowire 190 formed through design peripheral lead wire and/or mark upper surface, the error space that the in-process of avoiding counterpointing was reserved, so can effectively reduce the width in peripheral region.

Naturally, the present invention can be embodied in many other forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is intended that all such changes and modifications be considered as within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. A touch panel, comprising:

a substrate, wherein the substrate has a display area and a peripheral area;

a plurality of peripheral leads disposed on the peripheral region of the substrate;

a plurality of first covers covering the upper surfaces of the peripheral leads; and

the touch sensing electrode is arranged in the display area of the substrate and is electrically connected with the peripheral leads, wherein the touch sensing electrode comprises a plurality of modified metal nanowires, the modified metal nanowires are provided with first surfaces which are in direct contact at cross points, and the modified metal nanowires are provided with coating structures on second surfaces which are not the cross points.

2. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the first covers comprise the modified metal nanowires.

3. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the first covers comprise a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires.

4. The touch panel of claim 1, further comprising: a film layer, wherein the modified metal nanowires are exposed out of the film layer.

5. The touch panel of claim 4, wherein the touch sensing electrode further comprises a plurality of unmodified metal nanowires disposed in the film.

6. The touch panel of claim 1, wherein the coating structure is a layer structure, an island-like protrusion structure, a dot-like protrusion structure or a combination thereof made of a conductive material.

7. The touch panel of claim 6, wherein the conductive material is silver, gold, copper, platinum, iridium, rhodium, palladium or osmium.

8. The touch panel of claim 6, wherein the conductive material is graphene, carbon nanotubes, conductive polymer or conductive oxide.

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